Art School
by NerdCookie13
Summary: (ON HIATUS) Amu just transfered as a freshman to the school of her dreams, she has two great room mates and the opportunity to do what she loves most. But what will happen when hottie sophmore Ikuto takes an interest in her? AU. Characters may be slightly OOC. R&R!
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own the shugo chara characters. The plot line however is mine so enjoy! :3

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><p>I looked up at the large brick building. Its four stories loomed over me, casting a large shadow over the sidewalk and street. I'd been begging my parents to send me to art school for three years, and up until now, they didn't have the money. My grandmother passed away a few weeks back, leaving my family with a huge inheritance. They enrolled me in Nayumi school of arts shortly after receiving the money. I'd been so excited about going to Nayumi high, but now, looking up at the enormous building, I felt slightly ill.<p>

"Ms. Hinamori?" came a voice from in front of me. My head snapped downwards to see a middle-aged woman with dark brown, shoulder length hair, and a pair of wire rimmed glasses that covered her chocolate eyes. She held a clipboard in her hands with a few peices of paper on it.

"Are you Hinamori Amu?" she asked. I nodded my head. She looked down and flipped through the papers on her clipboard. She stopped on one page, studied it, then looked up at me with a smile.

"Please follow me Ms. Hinamori, I will show you to your dorm room." I picked up my bags and followed after her. We walked through the main building I'd been standing in front of. It turned out this building was used mainly for teachers offices and such. When we walked out the back door of the main building into the courtyard, I was utterly shocked. This place looked like a college campus. There were a bunch of buildings litered all around, some of them even larger than the office building. The buildings for classes and clubs were on the East, West, and North sides of the campus, and the dorms were on the South side.

There were two dorm buildings. One for the girls, and one for the boys. The lady led me to the building on the right. The dorms were both larger than the office building and all the class/club buildings. She led me up three flights of stairs. My dorm room was on the fourth and final floor of the girls dorm. We walked down to the end of the hallway where my room (room 13d) was located.

"Where does that lead?" I asked, pointing to the doorway at the very end of the hall.

"Oh, that's the roof. While I wouldn't recommend going up there, it isn't off limits so I can't stop you." she answered. I nodded my head and walked into the room she unlocked for me. The room was huge. It was like an apartment in and of itself. The walls of the living room were painted a light grey-blue. The kitchen had grey tiles on the walls and the whole thing had dark hardwood floors. There were three bedrooms and one bathroom. _That could be a problem. _I thought to myself.

"You will have two room mates. Tsukiyomi Utau and Mashiro Rima. But they haven't arrived yet." the woman told me.

"So which room is mine?" I asked her, gesturing to the two bedrooms on one end of the dorm and the one at the other end.

"Whichever one you want since you got here first." she told me. I nodded at her and walked over to the lone bedroom. I walked in and gasped at the size of it. It was bigge than my parents room. The room was painted white and bare of personality. There was a queen sized bed in the middle of the back wall, a large white desk on the wall by the door and two huge bookshelves that looked like a chess board (black and white square cubby holes) on the wall next to the wall the bed was on. The other wall had two large windows. The floors were fuzzy black carpet.

"This is the biggest room in your dorm." said the lady.

"I want this one." I told her.

"I thought you might." she said with a small smile. "I know it looks plain now, but it's supposed to be that way. We redo the rooms everytime the students living in that dorm graduate. We make it look blank so you can add your own personal style. You can even paint the walls if you want." I looked around the room and my photographer's mind took over. I could see exactly how I wanted the room to look. I could see the color on the walls and the bedding on the bed.

"Well, I'll be taking my leave now. Here's your house key," she said handing me a small silver key, "and my name is Ms. Yamano. I'm your RA (resident advisor), so if you have any questions you can ask me." Ms. Yamano left the dorm, leaving me to my thoughts. I walked over and sat down on the bare mattress on my bed. _Well, here it is, home sweet home for the next four years._

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><p>*Yoo Hoo! Done with chapter one of my new story! Please read &amp; review and tell me what you think! :3<p> 


	2. Chapter 2

The first thing I would have to do was go shopping. It was still two days until classes started, and since I hadn't known about the 'you get to decorate your own room' policy, I didn't bring any of my bedding. There was a store just off of campus where you could buy stuff like that. My mom had given me a debit card befoe I left, so money definitley wasn't an issue. I locked my door before leaving the dorms. The sun was already beginning to set so I would have to hurry with my shopping. It wasn't exactly smart for a sixteen year old girl to be walking around alone at night.

The store had more than I could have hoped for. I picked out a hot pink and black plaid down comforter, black satin sheets, and one pink and one black pillow. I bought hot pink paint for the walls and a smaller can of black paint to go with it. I would have gotten more stuff, but my arms could barely carry what I already had. I paid for my stuff and left the store. I made it back to my dorm without being haggled or robbed, so I egged this as a pretty good day so far. I locked the door to the dorm, carried my things into my room, and shut my door. I would paint the room once I got settled. For now, I just made my bed, put my clothes away in my closet, and got ready for bed.

Once I was changed and clean, I crawled into bed. I opened up my laptop and began to write. I was in art school for two reasons. My photography and my writing. I wrote stories and posted them online on a regular basis. Sure I loved photography, but writing was my passioin. I wrote for about two hours, then saved what I had, closed my laptop, and went to sleep.

I awoke the next morning to a large crashing sound outside my door. I shot up in bed and heard a girls voice yelling a string of curses. I stumbled out of bed and opened the door to my room. In the living room was a girl with long blonde hair pinned up in two enormous pony tails on top of her head, and gorgeous violet eyes. She was sitting on the floor holding her knee.

"Are you okay?" I asked, rubing my eyes. Her head shot up in surprise as if she hadn't known I was there. The shock slowly faded from her face and she smiled up at me.

"Yeah, I'm fine. You must be one of my room mates. Which one?" she responded.

"Hinamori Amu, but you can just call me Amu." I answered. "And which one are you?" I questioned.

"Tsukiyomi Utau. Call me Utau." she said. I extended my hand out to her to help her up. She took it glady. "So has our other room mate arrived yet?" she asked.

"No, not yet." I replied. She plunked down on the black leather couch, leaving her things by the door where she'd dropped them. I followed her example and slumped into the matching armchair. We sat there in silence for a few minutes, just resting. I seriously considered going back to bed until I looked over at the clock and saw that it was almost noon. I groaned and retreated to my room to change.

I emerged fifteen minutes later in my black tights, black and red striped long sleeved dress that fell of of one shoulder, and my red ankle boots. My hair was up in two pig tails put up with red X hair pins. Utau looked up at me and grinned.

"You have an awesome fashion sense." she said.

"Thanks, it comes from m mom." I told her. I sat back down on the chair. Utau and I talked for a bit. We talked about where we were from, what we liked to do, what we were here for, and other stuff like that. A knock at the door made both me and Utau jump. We looked at each other and laughed. Utau got up to answer the door. She stood there with the door open talking to whoever was there.

"Hey Amu!" she yelled back at me. "looks like our last roomie's here!" She opened the door the rest of the way and in stepped a girl with dirty blonde hair and golden brown eyes. "This is Rima." Utau said introducing the girl in the doorway. Rima walked in and Utau closed and locked the door behind her.

"I could have introduced myself you know." Rima said. I would have taken it badly if it weren't for the huge grin plastered on her face. She dropped her things by the door where Utau's stuff still was. "Sorry about having to knock, Ms. Yamano didn't have my key ready so she told me to just knock. She said she'd have it made for me right away and would get it to me as soon as she could." she said as she plunked herself down in the other armchair. Utau resumed her perch on the couch once again making herself comfortable.

Utau and Rima worked out which of the two remaining rooms they each would get. I was thankful that they weren't angry that I took the biggest room for myself. After they got settled in (and appearently they knew about the 'you have to bring your own crap' rule :P) we decided we'd go out for icecream. There were a few restaurants on campus, including a little icecream place. So convenient. We got our icecreams and walked around campus exploring for a little while. We'd all gotten our schedules in the mail before we'd even arrived at school, so we figured it would be a wise decision to scope out where all our classes were before having to deal with the flood of students trying to do just that tomorrow when classes started.

We finished our tour of the campus at around six and decided it was about time to head back to the dorm. We grabbed some ramen on the way back for dinner and ate it at the dorm. We looked over each others schedules to see if we had any classes together.

"Oooh, look. I have Math and English with Amu." Utau said and handed my schedule to Rima. Just because it was an arts school didn't mean it wasn't still high school, which meant we had to go to normal classes along with our special onces.

"I have History with you and Amu, but nothing else." Rima said and handed me back my schedule. I folded it up and stuck it in my back pocket. After another hour or so of getting ot know one another, I decided it was time for me to turn in. I went through my nightly ritual, worked on my writing for about a thirty minutes, then shut off my lamp and fell asleep.


	3. Chapter 3

Classes started the next morning at eight o'clock sharp, which meant I was up at six thirty. I showered, dressed, and did my hair all by seven thirty. Utau and Rima hadn't come out of their rooms yet, so I took it upon myself to go see if they were up yet. I knocked on Utau's door first. It took a few minutes but she finally answered the door. She looked like death. Her blonde hair was all tangled up and her eyes were glazed over from sleep.

"You do realize that its already seven thirty right?" I asked her pointing towards the living room clock. She rubbed her eyes and followed my finger to the clock. Her eyes shot open and she rushed back into her room squealing. I laughed at her now closed door and went over to repeat the waking up process with Rima. Rima was shocked at the time as well, but was much more calm about it. She didn't squeal like Utau had, she merely walked calmly back into her bedroom, closing the door behind her. They both emerged from there rooms about fifteen minutes later. They looked better than I had expected them to with so little time to change. Rima had her pinned back in a high pony tail on the back of her head with her bangs hanging in ther face, and Utau had her signature double pony tails atop her head.

The three of us got our things together and headed off to our first classes at around seven fourty-eight. First period I had math with Utau. We said goodbye to Rima as she walked to her respective building and headed off to ours. The math build was one of the larger classroom buildings. Our classroom was on the second floor of the two story building. We took the two seats farthest to the back of the room near the windows. Utau and I got in a bit of a tussel over who would get the very back seat. I won. She stuck her tongue out at me and sat in the seat in front of me. I merely laughed. Me and Utau were put in a sophmore math class because they didn't have an advanced math class for any of the grades. Whenever you were put in a upper level class, they just stuck you in the class a grade above yours.

There were a few other freshman in the class, but in total there were only five of us, and the other three huddled in the other corner of the room far away from us. The rest of the class rushed into the room just before the bell rang. They took their seats, leaving more than you would expect, vacant. The teacher started by taking role. Me and Utau said 'here' when our names were called but tuned out the rest of the names, not really caring who else was in there. We chatted amongst each other until the teacher told the class to quiet down so he could begin his introductionary lecture. Utau sighed and turned around in her seat to face the teacher.

About fifteen minutes passed and the teacher still hadn't finished with his introduction. Utau had already fallen asleep in front of me and I was on my way. I fought to keep my eyes open as I stared out the window into the schools courtyard. I heard the door at the front of the classroom slide closed and a bunch of gasps from the other students accompanied it. I turned to the door to see a tall boy with dark blue hair and eyes that matched walking up to the teachers desk. He talked with the teacher for a moment, too low for me to hear, then began to walk towards the rows of desks. He scanned the room for a moment before his eyes came to rest on the empty desk next to mine. He walked down the aisle and sat down gracefully in his chosen seat.

He turned his head to look at me and smiled. I looked at him with my signature 'who the hell do you think you are' look and turned my attention to the front of the classroom. I looked at Utau to see that she was still asleep. _Wow, heavy sleeper. _I rolled my eyes at her limp form and turned my attention back out the window.

(Ikuto's POV)

I slowly closed the door to the classroom. I'd slept in and was about fifteen minutes late for class, but I'd made up an excuse to tell the teacher. As usual, she bought my excuse without a second thought and sent me on my way to choose a seat. I scanned the room for a moment. My eyes caught on a head of strawberry hair near the back of the classroom. I saw my little sister sitting in front of the pinkette, drooling on her textbook. I laughed internally and walked down an aisle to the empty seat next to the pinkette. She was new, therefore I had to say hello. I sat down and shot the girl my signature smile. To my surprise she simply glared at me then turned her attention back out the window. I stared at her in shock. _Did she really just ignore me? No girl could resist that smile. _I stared at her for a moment longer then turned my attention to the front of the room. She intrigued me. I'd have to learn more about her. I smirked at no one in particular and slumped back in my seat. _I think i'll be seeing a lot more of this girl. _

(Amu's POV)

Class ended and the majority of the students leaped from their seats and flooded out the doorway. I slowly gathered my things, then proceeded to poke Utau in the back with my pencil in an attempt to wake her up. The first couple of times I poked her, she merely stirred and continued to sleep. The next time she proceeded to reach behind her and slap me in the face. I sat there dumbfounded at the fact that not only had she slapped me, but that she had immediately gone back to sleep. I gave up on waking her up and left it to the teacher to try and wake her. The cocky boy stayed firmly in his seat the entire time this was happening. He made no attempt to help me wake up Utau. His eyes followed me as I walked to the door of the classroom. Before leaving I turned around and shot him one of my signature 'back off' looks, then headed out the door to my next class.


	4. Chapter 4

The rest of the day was pretty dismal. My normal classes were pretty uneventful, and my special classes didn't teach me anything on the first day that I didn't already know. The bell rang signaling that it was the end of the school day and we were now free to do as we pleased (within limitations of course). I met up with Utau and Rima who were waiting for me under the huge tree in the middle of the courtyard. We decided that to celebrate surviving our first day of school we would go out for ice cream. We sat at our little outdoor table and chatted about how each of our days went.

"Hey, just curious, but do any of you know a guy with blue hair and blue eyes? He's a sophmore, but I don't know his name." I asked them. Rima shrugged her shoulders. I looked over to Utau.

"Umm, kind of a cocky guy right? Seemed pretty self-involved?" Utau asked me.

"Yeah, that's him. You know him?" I asked.

"Yeah, he's my brother." she said, shocking me.

"You do realize he's in our math class right?" I told her. She looked at me in confusion. I told her what happened in math while she had been so elegantly drooling on her text book. She began to laugh.

"Yep, that definitly sounds like Ikuto alright." she said, giggling slightly. "And you actually ignored him when he smiled at you?" she asked me.

"Yeah, why?" I asked.

"Well, from what i've seen, no girl has been able to see that smile without swooning. I'm impressed. Power to the chicks!" she said, raising her ice cream and laughing some more. Rima and I joined in on her laughter and changed the subject. After finishing our ice cream, we headed back to the dorm. As soon as we had shut and locked the door to our room, we all practically through ourselves onto the nearest cooshy object. Rima ended up in one armchair, and Utau in the other. I was lucky enough to snatch the couch, though I had to wrestle Utau for it. We flipped through channels on the giant flat screen TV that Utau brought with her for about an hour before deciding that there really was nothing on. Luckily since it was the first day of school the teachers were kind of lax on homework, so we didn't have any.

After a while, my stomach got the best of me, and I decided it was time for a little midnight snack, even though it was only nine. I made myself a sandwich then crashed back down on the couch to eat it. Utau glared at me for a moment then scolded me on the fact that I hadn't bothered to ask if she might want one too, and that I hadn't offered to make her one. I stuck my tongue out at her and told her that if she wanted a sandwich then she could get off her lazy ass and make it herself. She looked at me with fake dejection and huffed off to her room, giggling as she closed her door.

Rima soon followed her, telling me good night as she escaped to her room. I put away the plate I had made the sandwich on and escaped to my own room. I showered, changed, brushed my teeth, etc., and found my way back to bed. By the time I was finished with my nightly rituals, it was nearly eleven. I decided to forgo the writing for tonight and catch up on some beauty rest.

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><p>I was surprised to wake up and find that Utau and Rima were already up. They weren't dressed or even close to ready yet, but it was a start. I made some coffee and distributed it amongst the three of us. After drinking their coffee, Utau and Rima seemed more energetic, and more inclined to actually get ready. Once we were all ready, it was off to class. Me and Utau arrived in math class to find that her brother, Ikuto, was already there. He looked up at us and smiled. His smile gaze lingered on me as Utau and I walked down the aisle to our desks. I rolled my eyes and sat down in my desk, which illicited a choked giggle from Utau who plopped down in the desk ahead of me.<p>

A student aid came into the class and told our class that our teacher was going to be a little late. As soon as she was gone, the class erupted into a frenzy of conversations. I chatted with Utau for a minute, then felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned to see Ikuto looking at me.

"So what's your name?" he asked me, with another grin firmly in place.

"Hinamori Amu." I answered. He was weird, but I wasn't going to be completely rude unless he tried something.

"Come on Ikuto, leave the poor girl alone. You have almost every girl in the school swooning over you, so what does it matter if one doesn't like you?" Utau said before Ikuto could respond. He turned his grin to Utau, who, like me, wasn't at all phased by it.

"Come now Utau, you always think the worst of me. I was simply trying to get to know her that's all." he said. Utau rolled her eyes at him and turned towards the front of the classroom where the teacher had just walked in. She obviously believed he was up to more than he was letting on, but decided to ignore it until he did something more extreme than flirting. Ikuto shot me one more of his signature grins and turned towards the teacher.

Class ended and I was out of that classroom before Ikuto could try flirting with me again. Utau followed in step behind me, leaving Ikuto all by himself. Once me and Utau were out of earshot Utau collapsed against the wall in a fit of laughter.

"Did you see his face when you rolled your eyes at him?" she choked out between laughs. "He looked absolutly dejected." She calmed herself down and leaned against the wall. "So your not interested in him then?" she asked me.

"I don't know him well enough to be interested in him. I think looks are a bonus and I will admit he's extremely hot, but I'm not gonna date someone purely on how they look." I told her. She shrugged her shoulders and giggled a little more before walking away to get to her next class. The next few classes took forever to pass by. The bell rang signalling that it was time for lunch and in an attempt to be one of the first ones out of the class I was trampled by the herd of hungry teens. I sat on the ground and began to pick up the contents of my spilled school bag.

"Here, let me help you." came a voice from behind me. I turned my head and looked up to see a boy with brown hair and bright green eyes bending down to help me with my things.

"Umm, sure. Thanks." I said. We got my things back into my bag and I thanked him again.

"No problem. I'm Kukai." he said extending his hand to me.

"Amu." I responded shaking his outstretched hand.

"Well, i've got to get going. I'll see you around." he said and ran off.


	5. Chapter 5

Class started the next day and there was no sign of Ikuto. All math class I expected him to walts into class like nothing was wrong with a perfectly fake excuse as to why he had missed the first part of class, but he never came. The bell rang and the majority of the class left as quickly as humanly possible. Utau turned around in her chair and let out a huge sigh.

"Man am I ever glad that that's over with. It's not that this class is difficult for me it's that the teacher has a seriously monotone voice that makes me want to take a nap." she exclaimed plunking her head down on my desk.

"Yeah, I know what you mean." I responded after giggling at her melodrama. "So where was your brother today? Did he just decide not to show up today or what?" I asked innocently. Appearently I hadn't asked innocently enought because the second she registered what I had said a gigantic grin spread across her face joined by a look in her eyes that said she was thinking the worst.

"Why Amu, you worried about him?" she said waggling her eyebrows at me. I slapped her in the arm playfully.

"No, I'm just curious that's all. It's actually kind of a relief not having him in class for a little while." I said, standing up and throwing my messanger bag over my shoulder. She shrugged her shoulders and followed suit with her things.

"I don't know why he wasn't here today. Generally he doesn't miss all of class just the first part. He doesn't tell me everything you know. And to be honest I could really care less where he spends his time you know?" she said. I shrugged my shoulders.

"Yeah, I can understand that. Well, we better go before next periods students start to show up." I said and we left.

My writing class started to launch into some pretty interesting things that I hadn't known about and really interested me, but other than that the rest of the day was once again pretty dismal. I retired to my bedroom after classes ended and locked myself in. I crashed onto my bed and opened up my laptop. I checked my reviews for my stories and responded accordingly; actually held an interesting conversation about writing with on of my reviewers. An hour ticked by and Utau and Rima came crashing into the apartment in a fit of hysterical laughter. I poked my head out my door to see what was so funny and found them rolling on the floor in a fit of laughter. I stepped out of my room and stood there with my arms crossed just watching them until they finally somewhat pulled themselves together enought to stand.

"What's so funny guys?" I asked plunking down on the couch.

"You know those guys who walk around with their pants haning halfway down their butts?" Utau asked me.

"Yeah, so?" I responded.

"Well, Rima and I were walking behind one of 'em on the way back to the dorm and this guy's just walking as slow as can be texting on his phone when bang, his pants fall down around his ankles, he trips and lands right where some dudes dog just took a crap." Utau explained choking on another round of hysterics. "It was great!" she said letting the laughter once again take over once again. I let out a sigh that held a small hint of laughter and retreated to the kitchen for something to eat. Once I had my snack I retreated back to my bedroom leaving Rima and Utau to watch tv in the livingroom.

(Ikuto's POV)

I crashed on my large king sized bed letting the dark blue comfertor ruffle underneath me. I laid there only staring up at the ceiling, too exhausted for thought to take over. Every Wednesday I had private lessons all day. One lesson was for my violin and the other was for my art. Originally I was in the regular art class like everyone else but after they saw my ability they decided to give me a private lesson of my own. The fact that my dad was the vice principal of the school probably helped on that front as well. I felt a small smile grace my lips.

The front door slammed rather loudly.

"Must be Kukai." I mumbled to myself. I let out a large sigh and went to my door to greet my newly returned roommate.

"Your in rather late." I said leaning against my door frame. He merely shrugged as he crashed on the couch.

"Practice ran later than it should have, sorry. Why, did I wake you up from a little cat nap?" he asked smirking. I gave him a menacing glare then walked over and crashed on the other couch. Kukai laughed after a moment then flipped on the tv, flipping throught channels before I could even tell what was on them. Not that I was paying that much attention anyways. My attention was turned to a certain pinkette who could somehow resist the devilish charm of mwa. I pictured the glares she'd given me the last few times i'd seen her. She'd even dared to roll her eyes at me. Such audacity. I had to know this girl.

I looked over to see Kukai snoring on the other couch, his head cocked to one side and the remote still firmly in his hand. I let out a small chuckle and retreated to my room once again. A good friend would have picked his lazy ass up and carried him to his room, but I was his best friend, therefore entitling me to just leave his lazy ass on the couch and laugh at him when he had muscle aches in the morning. I crawled into bed, turned off my lamp, and fell asleep with thoughts of the pinkette still dancing behind my eyelids.


	6. Chapter 6

(Amu's POV)

I awoke to a high pitched squeal comming from outside my door. I leaped out of bed, heart racing a million miles an hour and raced to the door. I flung the door open to see both Utau and Rima standing on the coffee table looking absolutley terrified.

"What's going on out here?" I asked them. Their heads shot in my direction quicker than I thought possible.

"There's a mouse in here. We saw it dart underneat the couch." Rima said from her place atop the table. I sighed and walked over to the couch. I put my hands under the the end of the couch and lifted. Under the couch lay a little blue kitten sound asleep. I could understand how Rima and Utau could mistake the kitten for a mouse, he was certaintly the size of one.

"It's not a mouse, it's a kitten. You guys can come down off the coffee table now." I said scooping up the sleeping kitten with one hand and lowering the couch back down the the floor with the other. The second I had the couch down my roommates ambushed me with exclamations of how cute they thought the kitten was. I pulled the kitten out of their graspes before they could strangle the poor thing.

"How did it even get in here though?" Utau questioned. Rima shrugged her shoulders at the question. I rolled my eyes and pointed to the open window on the other side of the room.

"Oooooooh." they said in unison. I rolled my eyes once again and laughed. Someone knocked on the door and my still slightly scared roommates jumped. I laughed at them then walked over to answer the door. I was surprised at who I found when I opened the door. Before me stood Ikuto. A large grin spread across his face when he looked down at me and it took all I had not to smack him.

"Something you need?" I asked him, trying (but not succeeding) to keep the annoyance out of my voice. His grin lightened a bit before he answered.

"Have you seen a little blue kitten around? I seem to have misplaced him." he explained.

"Umm, yeah actually. He's right in here. Gave my roommates a heart attack this morning too. They thought he was a mouse." I explained leading him into the dorm room where his kitten currently resided. The kitten was once again sleeping, but this time he was sleeping _on _the couch rather than under it.

"You really should keep a closer eye on him. He could have gotten really hurt." I told him as he scooped the kitten up off the couch.

"I know, but Yoru is a very adventerous and curious kitty. Sometimes he just slips away from me before I notice." he said looking lovingly down at the kitten. He seemed so peaceful and sweet when he talked about the kitten. And the way he looked at it made him seem like a completely different person than the one most people thought he was.

"Well, I should probably go now. Thanks for finding him." Ikuto said snapping me from my thoughts.

"No problem." I managed to say before he slipped out of the dorm. I stared at the closed door for a moment before going back to my room to get ready for class.

Ikuto showed up for math class, but was strangely quiet. Occasionally I'd sneak a glance in his direction which under any normal circumstances would have set that cocky smile of his ablaze, but today all he did was stare blankly towards the front of the classroom. When the bell signalling that class was over rang Ikuto didn't move a muscle. I gathered my things and looked back over at Ikuto to see him still frozen in place. Now I was getting worried. I walked over and put my hand on his shoulder.

"Are you okay Ikuto?" I asked him. It took him a moment before he finally turned to look at me. He gave me a soft smile unlike any other he'd previously given and told me he was fine. I didn't believe him. I watched him slowly gather his things and I let out a long sigh.

"Alright, you're coming with me." I said dragging him away from his desk with both mine and his things in the other hand. I led him down hallways and through the courtyard and was quite surprised when he neither objected nor made some snarky comment about where I might be taking him. In fact, he didn't say much of anything all the way to the ice cream stand. I sat down at one of the stools at the bar and he sat next to me in silence. I was starting to miss the perverted guy I knew. I ordered a vanilla ice cream for myself and a chocolate one for him. He took it from me but didn't eat it. I watched the chocolate drip down his hand and onto the counter.

"Okay, seriously Ikuto. What's up? You're acting like a total space cadet today." I asked spinning in my stool to face him. He once again hesitated to look at me. When he turned his midnight blue eyes on me, I could see the utter depression within their debths.

"My mother was very ill and resided in the hospital a few blocks away from here. When I went to visit her yesterday I was informed that she had passed away the night before." Ikuto explained. He looked down at the bar again, still paying absolutely no attention to his melting ice cream.

"Oh Ikuto, I am so sorry." I told him putting my hand comfortingly on his shoulder. He looked over at me with another soft smile and I could tell it was sincere. I guess not many people noticed or cared when he was down. Our eyes met and we sat there for a moment just staring. A million things rushed through my head at that moment that I'd never thought I could think, especially about someone like him. After a moment he turned away breaking our trance and sending those thoughts to the back of my mind (more my doing than his). He looked down at his now chocolate covered hand and sighed.

"I should get going." he said after chunking his half melted ice cream cone into the trash can. "Here i'll pay you back for the ice cream." he said pulling out his wallet. I put my hand over his and his wallet and shook my head.

"Consider it a gift. No need to pay me back." I said with a smile. He stared at me for a moment then stood from his seat.

"See you around strawberry." he said putting his wallet back in his pocket and walking away. He waved over his shoulder at me then disappeared into the flood of students in the courtyard. I stared after his disappearing form for a moment then with a smile, headed to my next class.


	7. Chapter 7

I spent the rest of the day with my head in the clouds. I couldn't get the scene that played out at the ice cream stand out of my head. The way we locked eyes. The way the feel of his skin under my fingers sent shivers up my spine. I shook my head trying desperately to shake the thoughts of the obnoxious boy out of my brain. It didn't work. The bell rang and I left class. I met up with Utau and Rima in the courtyard and we walked back to the dorms blabbing about all the things that happened in classes today.

"What about you Amu? Anything interesting to report?" Utau asked turning to me. I thought about it for a moment.

"Nope, not a thing." I said with a smile. I walked ahead of them smiling like an idiot to myself. When we got back to our dorm room I went straight to my room and pulled out my laptop. I'd get to the homework later. For now, I had a new idea for a story. My fingers flew across the keyboard as I typed my new story.

_ Eyes like midnight and a smile that could break your heart. _

I smiled at my finished works and pushed the save button. I closed the computer with a satisfied grin and started on my mountain of homework. My stomach grumbled up at me halfway through my final sheet of homework. I sighed and put down my pen and retreated to the kitchen. Boy was I shocked at who I found when I opened my door. Ikuto was lounging on the big leather couch flipping through the channels on the large tv. He didn't even seem to notice my presence. My gaze lingered on him probably a little longer than it should have, then I shrugged my shoulders and went to fix myself a sandwich.

Ikuto didn't seem to notice when I went back into my room after eating my sandwich either and I started to wonder if he was sleeping with his eyes closed. I closed my bedroom door and went back to my homework. At around seven thirty there was a knock at my door.

"Come in!" I shouted at whoever was there. Ikuto stood in the now open doorway, his thin but muscly frame leaned up against door frame, his arms crossed over his chest.

"Curry okay with you?" he asked which severely confused me at first. Then I caught what he meant.

"Umm yeah, curry's fine. Who's making it though? Cause I'm sure as hell not." I answered spinning my desk chair around to face him.

"I am." was all he said with a self satisfied grin firmly planted on his pale face.

"You can cook?" I asked surprsied.

"Ya, my umm... my mom taught me before she died." he said and lowered his gaze as if his feet were now the most interesting things in the world. I felt my heart drop to my feet at his words. Poor Ikuto.

"Well, i'm sure it'll be great." I said with a grin. He nodded with a slight smile and left, closing my bedroom door behind him. After a little while the smell of curry wafted into my room. I swear I almost drooled it smelled so good. I put my things away and walked into the main room. Ikuto was standing at the stove stirring a pot. Or what was in it rather. I stared at him for a moment then retreated into the living room area and plopped down on the couch. I thought about grabbing the remote and turning on the tv, but decided to read my book instead.

"What ya doin'?" Utau's head popped up in front of me. Upside down might I add since she was leaning over me from the back of the couch rather than the front. I yelped slightly and dropped my book. I heard Ikuto chuckle slightly from the kitchen and it kinda pissed me off. I sat up and saw him grinning at me as he took the pot off the burner and turned off the stove. I stuck my tongue out at him which only made him laugh harder. I rolled my eyes with a smile and flopped back down on the couch.

About twenty minutes later Ikuto called for us to come get our food. Utau and Rima emerged from Rima's room faster than i'd ever seen them run for anything. I jumped up off the couch and joined them in the kitchen. We picked up our bowls and retreated to the living room. Utau and I fought for the prime lounge spot on the couch, but to my dismay she came out victorious. I sighed and plunked down into the chair next to the couch. Rima sat in the other lounge chair and Ikuto sat on the floor in front of the couch. Rima grabbed the remote and flipped on the tv. I took a bite of my curry and it was the most amazing thing i'd ever tasted.

"Ikuto this stuff is amazing!" I squealed at him. He looked up at me and grinned widely. Though it was his usual cocky grin I could see a hint of sincerity in it.

"Glad you like it." he responded. His eyes lingered on me for a moment then turned back towards the mystery movie Rima had picked on the tv. I gulped down my curry like it was necessary for my survival. By the time I was done with my second helping the movie was over and a horror movie was coming on. Once of those ghost movies where things pop out at you a lot. I put the dishes in the sink while the beginning credits were rolling. When I went back to sit down I found Ikuto lounging in my chair. I glared down at him but he made no attempt to move.

"Would you get out of my chair?" I barked at him annoyed. He looked up at me and grinned. A fire raged behind my eyes. He was seriously pissing me off now.

"Nope," he said nonchalantly. "If you want to sit here your just going to have to sit on me." he finished in an extremely mischevious tone. I glared at him for another moment and then did exactly as he had proposed. I walked to the front of the chair and sat down sideways, my legs hanging off the armrest nearest to the tv. He let out a weezing noise when I sat down. I let a mischevious smile matching his meet my lips and leaned back against the armrest behind me. Utau and Rima wer watching us, there hands over their mouths in an attempt to hold back their laughter. Eventually they calmed down and watched the movie.

About halfway through the movie things started to pop out, and while I loved movies like this, that didn't mean they didn't scare the crap out of me. The first time I jumped Ikuto chuckled underneath me. I slapped him on the arm with a smile on my lips and continued watching the movie. Eventually he stopped chuckling when I would jump. I'm not sure how it happend, but at some point during the movie I ended up holding onto Ikuto's upper arm. When the movie ended and I realized what I was doing I snatched my hands away from his arm and got up off of him to stretch. He chuckled at me and rubbed the top of his arm where my hands had been.

"Man Amu, I think you left a bruise." he said with a satisfied grin on his face. I rolled my eyes and stuck my tongue out at him. He chuckled again. Utau and Rima were watching us again and I sent them a glare. They turned their heads away quickly trying to pretend they hadn't been watching at all. Ikuto looked down at his wrist and sighed.

"I should probably get going. Still haven't done my homework yet." he said and walked towards the front door. Utau ran up to him and gave him a big hug before he could get to the door. When she let go he looked over at me and Rima expectantly.

"Well i'm not going to hug you." Rima said and marched off to her room. He turned his gaze to me specifically then. I couldn't say anything. I couldn't even move. Our eyes were locked and he'd lost his mischevious grin. My brain was swimming, lost in the effervescent blue of his eyes. I snapped back into reality and shrugged. I walked over to him as calmly as I could. I wrapped my arms around him and when he did the same it sent my mind racing again. I hadn't even realized I was cold until I felt the warmth his embrace gave me. Or maybe it was just him. Ever where his skin touched mine was like a shock of electricity. When he pulled back it was like a part of me was missing and I felt cold. I looked up at his face and saw something in his eyes that I couldn't quite place. It was gone before I could tell what it was.

"See ya sis." he said turning his gaze to Utau. She was staring at me but turned her gaze to him when he spoke.

"Later." she said with a smile. The moment the door closed Utau was right in front of me, her hands firmly on my shoulders. "What was that?" she squealed at me with a huge grin on her face. I realized that Ikuto and I had probably hugged longer than we should have and Utau had seen it. A crimson red blush spread across my cheeks at her question.

"Nothing." was all I could get out. I was still a big breathless from the hug. She let go of my shoulders and started to bounce up and down in place.

"I knew it. I knew it. I knew it!" she squealed. "I knew you liked him!" she giggled pointing and accusatory finger at me. I stood in shock for a moment then collected myself.

"I don't know what your talking about." I said and walked as calmly as I could manage back to my room. I could still hear her giggles through my closed door. I leaned up against my door and let a small smile grace my lips. I walked away from the door, got ready for bed, and fell asleep with thoughts of Ikuto dancing through my brain.


	8. Chapter 8

The best part of the weekend, in my opinion, is getting to sleep in. Oh, and not having to go to class. Sun seeped through the crack between my black curtains, the tiny stream of light hitting only my eyes. I could have sworn someone had done this on purpose just for the express purpose of ruining the first day of my weekend. I rolled over and put a fluffy pink pillow over my head to try and block out the light. I had almost slipped back into the realm of sleep when a loud wale came from outside my door. I groaned and leaped out of bed. The universe simpl must hate me. I stumbled to the door and threw it open. Utau and Rima were just stumbling out of their rooms when I spotted smoke coming from the kitchen area. I rushed intot he kitchen, now fully awake. Flames flickered from the stove, smoke bellowing out across the apartment.

"Shit!" Utau screached rushing to my side. "How the hell did that happen?"

"We can think about that later. RIght now we need to put this out before we lose the whole dorm." I told her rushing into my room.

"Wait! Where the hell are you going?" Utau yelled after me. I emerged from my room holding my huge blanket. Rushing into the kitchen I threw my blanket over the flaming stove and patted out the flames. Choking on smoke I stumbled out of the kitchen and fell to my knees at my friends feet.

The school's fire department or whatever they called it showed up about ten minutes after we actually needed them. THe paramedics checked us over and about half an hour later they were gone. Most of the school had gathered around the girls dorm to see what was happening. Most of them left when they saw it was nothing major though. Ikuto came barreling in after most of the crowd had cleared. He cheked his sister over thoroughly then looked over at me. I looked away quickly trying to conceal a blush and walked back into the building.

The dorm smelled like smoke. THe smell made me gag as I walked intot the dorm room. After taking the brunt of the smoke inhilation myself, since I was the one who put out the fire, the smell of it just made me sick. I went into the kithen with my sleve over m nose. I reached into the cabinet under the sink and pulled out three cans of air freshener. By the time i'd sprayed the whole dorm room i'd exhausted all three cans. I collapsed onto the couh and took a deep breath of the now chemically scented air. The front door opened and Utau, RIma, and Ikuto walked in. Ikuto briefly glanced my way then followed his sister into the kitchen. Ikuto emerged from the kitchen area holding the charred remains of my comfertor. I looked at it and sighed.

"We'll go shopping for a new one later, okay?" Rima suggested. I nodded my head and sunk further intot he couch. I offered to help clear away the debris but Rima wouldn't have it. She assured me that there wasn't enough to need my help, and looking into the kitchen, I saw she was right. We would needed a new stove and we'd have to repaint , but the damage altogether wasn't that bad. Once everyone was finished cleaning up the kitchen they plunked down along with me. Ikuto in the lounge chair to my right, Rima in the one to my left, and Utau next to me. We sat in complete silence for what seemed like forever. Utau reached down and sniffed her shirt and made a face.

"Okay, I have got to go change. I smell like a fireplace." she exclaimed. Rima examined her own clothes and followed after her. I would have changed too but I didn't have the energy to move. After a moment Ikuto moved from his spot in the chair to the spot on the couch where Utau had been. I could feel a blush creeping up my cheeks.

"Why you blushing Amu? You falling for me yet?" Ikuto asked.

"NO!" I yelled, reaching over and slapping him on the arm. He laughed at my reaction, which only succeeded in making me angrier.

"Seriously though. Are you okay? I heard you were the one who put out the fire. Did you get burned?" He sounded genuently concerned. A little shiver went up my spine and I fought to keep my face cool.

"I feel a little light headed from the smoke but I didn't get burned." I told him.

"Okay. Good." Was all he replied. After a moment of awkward silence between us Utau and Rima burst out of their rooms. I jumped up quickly from the couch and in doing so ended up tripping over the coffee table and tumbling to the floor.

"Ugh, okay, now that hurt." I groaned, rolling over to lay on my back. Utau was the first to burst into laughter. Rima followed shortly after and Ikuto after that. Eventually even I started to laugh, and for that brief moment, everyting was okay.

Ikuto left at Utau's demand, leaving the room to just us girls. I was now off the floor and stretched out on the couch. I let my body sink into the cushions of the couch and let out a relieved sigh.

"Sooooo, what's going on with you and my big bro?" I squealed and - for the second time this morning - went tumbling to the floor. I looked up to see Utau grinning down at me from her spot leaned over the couch.

"Nothings going on between me and Ikuto." I said as I picked myself up off the floor. I sat back down on the couch and glared at her.

"Oh come on, don't give me that 'there's nothing going on' crap. All the two of you have been doing is staring at each other when the other one isn't looking, and sometimes when they are. You two obviously like each other. Just admit it!" she said. I glared at her more harshly and put on a huge evil grin.

"Never." was all I said. I got up off the couch and retreated to my room, grinning back at Utau all the way to my room up until I closed the door.


	9. Chapter 9

Sunday started out pretty mundane compared to the theatrics of saturday. I woke up bright and early at around noon to a silent dorm. A rarety around this place. I rubbed my eyes and sat up slowly, a few vertibre in my back popping back into place as I stretched. I dropped my feet onto the cold hardwood floor and stood cautiously. I was still a little sore from the fire yesterday, it had made me a little tense. I stretched again and skittered sleepily off the the bathroom. Once I was done with my morning rituals I dressed in a fitting black and white striped dress that came just above my knees. I put my hair up in two small pony tails and examined myself in the mirror. When I was happy with my appearance I went into the main room to cook myself some breakfast, meaning cereal.

When I opened my bedroom door I was shocked to find Ikuto lounging lazily on the couch. I shouldn't have been shocked, it had become a habit of his to show up in our dorm room unannounced and without permission from any of the residence. It took me a moment to realize that his eyes were closed. _Was he asleep?_ I gazed at his still form on the couch for a moment then approached him. I leaned over the back of the couch looking down at his pale features. He looked so peaceful. I stared down at him for a moment, then did something I never thought i'd do. Without thinking I reached down and picked up a strand of his midnight hair. _It's so soft. _I twittled it between my fingers for a moment getting lost in the feeling of it between my fingers. I gasped when a smooth hand wrapped itself around my wrist. Ikuto's midnight eyes were looking sleepily up at me, his lids still drooping half way down his eyes making him look absolutley adorable.

When I finally realized what I was doing I yanked my hand out of his grasp and retreated to the kitchen as quickly as I could before he could say anything. My cheeks felt like they were on fire and my skin tingled from where he'd touched my wrist. I sucked in oxygen desperately trying to cool my face as I leaned up against one of the kitchen walls. _Why did he affect me this way?_ I reached into the cabinet and got my cereal before closing it again. I got out a bowl and laid it on the counter top. I poured some cereal into the bowl then put it back into the cupboard. I sauntered over to the fridge and opened the door. I let out a very unattractive groan at the sight I was met with.

"Alright! Who drank the last of the milk!" I screamed across the apartment. I heard a bang from one of the bedrooms opposite mine. _Utau._ She must have fallen out of bed. Well, I got my answer. I sighed and swung the door closed. I walked over the the cabinet, grabbed my dry bowl of cereal, and staggered over to the living room. I plopped down onto my lounge chair, avoiding all possible contact with Ikuto, bodily and eye contact. I grabbed for the remote on the coffee table but had it grabbed right out from underneath my approaching hand. I followed the pale hand to the person I was currently trying to avoid. I shot him my most menacing 'don't mess with me in the morning' glare. He didn't seemed phased by it in the least.

A door swung open and both mine and Ikuto's heads swung around to see who had finally emerged. It was Rima. She looked completely dead. She staggered out of her bedroom sleepily, barely able to close the door behind her, and stumbled into the bathroom. She slowly closed the door behind her and after a moment the shower came blasting to life. I stared for a moment more at the bathroom door then turned my attention back to the theiving cat across from me. I glared at him some more, but he didn't seem to notice. He flipped the remote around in his hand and flipped on the tv. He channel surfed for a while and after finding nothing on worth watching, turned it back off. I was now done with my dry breakfast and retreated back to the kitchen to throw the bowl into the sink. I peered over the small window like thingy in the wall through to the living room to see Ikuto gazing blankly out the window. I couldn't seem to pull my gaze away from him. When his head turned around to face me I snapped my head away so fast I heard my neck pop. I groaned at the sudden discomfort and staggered from the kitchen.

A sudden thought hit me and a smile touched my lips.

"Alright, if you're going to just hang around here you might as well make yourself useful," I said, earning a confused look from the blue haired boy on the couch. "I need someone to help me paint my room and since these two lazy asses don't seem to be of any use at the moment I've chosen you to help me. Unless, you think you can't do it." I finished shooting him a sly grin. I saw a tiny shine meet his eyes. _She shoots, she scores! _He got up from his perch on the couch and followed me into my bedroom.

The first thing we had to do was lay plastic out over everything. I made him do most of the work, though, he really didn't seem to mind all that much. Once the plastic was laid out we set to work opening the paint cans I had bought and preparing them. I grabbed one of the wooden paint mixer sticks and set to work on mixing my can of hot pink paint. Ikuto had gotten the black one and was doing the same thing to his. Once they were properly mixed I grabbed a paint brush from the pile in the middle of the room. I felt something cold and wet touch my arm and let out a girlish squeal. Ikuto stood next to me, paint brush in hand and a wild grin on his pale face. I looked down at the now black spot on my arm and sighed. After a moment I looked back up at the grinning Ikuto. A devilish grin touched my lips as I glared at him.

"You really shouldn't have done that." I stated. I dipped my paint brush in my can of hot pink wall paint and flung the contents at him. He stumbled backwards with a shocked expression on his face. I couldn't help but giggle at him. Pink now covered a good portion of the front of him. He examined his now ruined clothes and shot me a mischevious grin.

"Alright, It's on girly." He flung some black paint at me which I skillfully avoided... by falling firmly on my ass. Ikuto ran forward trying to fling more paint at me. I rolled out of the way and flung some paint of my own at him. In trying to dodge my attack he wound up getting pink paint all over that gorgeous midnight hair of his. I burst into a fit of hystarics at the look on his face, tears threatening to spill over from my outburst. He ran his fingers through his hair, which only ended up making it worse. He gazed down at his paint streaked fingers. He lunged at me again, fully ready to fling more paint my way.

Once he was in range of my legs, I flung out my left leg and tripped him before he could throw the paint. What I hadn't anticipated was him falling right on top of me. The paint he had been holding went flying and came splashing down over the top of us. We barely noticed. His blue eyes gazed down into my honey gold ones. Our faces were inches apart. I could feel his hot breath become quick and uneven as it poured down over my face. Hi breath smelled of cinnamon. It sent shivers down my body as it washed over me. Time seemed to stop as we stared into each others eyes. After a moment Ikuto began to pull back. My body moved without thinking. I laced my fingers around his neck to stop his retreat. Before I knew what I was doing I crashed my lips into his. For a moment, Ikuto didn't respond and I began to regret my actions. Before I could pull away completely I felt Ikuto's strong arms wrap around me. His warm lips began to move against mine, and the sensation was undescribably amazing.

Fireworks were shooting off behind my closed eyelids. I detatched my fingers from around his neck (seeing as I was pretty sure he wasn't going to run away now) and let them roam throug his soft paint soaked hair. Before I knew what was happening I was being picked up off the ground and set down on something warm and soft. We weren't lying on the ground anymore. Ikuto had pulled me up and I was now sitting in his lap. Our lips moved in perfect sync, meshing together like two puzzle peices fitting perfectly together. My head started to feel a little fuzzy. I pulled back breaking the kiss and sucked in much needed oxygen. Ikuto leaned his forhead against mine, his breath even quicker and uneven than before. His eyes were still closed, and a bit of sweat was concentrated above his brow.

"What happend in there? Is everything alright?" I jumped out of Ikuto's lap so quickly I stumbled over a stray table and went crashing to the ground. I seemed to be doing that a lot lately. Ikuto smiled over at my fallen form, a smile I had never seen before that sent my stomach a fire. His gaze lingered on me for a moment longer before he got up to see what the intruder wanted. Utau stood outside of my door looking somewhat worried. She looked her brother up and down and burst into laughter at the sight of his paint streaked body. "What the hell happened in here?" she asked between hoots of laughter. I struggled into a sitting positiong and rubbed my sore head. A knock sounded at the front door and after a sideways glance at me Ikuto left to answer it. My gaze lingered on him as he retreated. I couldn't fully comprehend what had just happened. I struggled to get up and staggered to the doorway. I looked into the main room to see Ikuto conversing with a boy at the front door. _He seems familiar some how. _Then it clicked.

"Kukai!" I nearly yelled. The boys gaze flickered to me and a grin perched itself nicely on his tan face.

"Hey Amu, nice to see you again." he replied. I returned his smile, trying desperately to ignore the question look Ikuto was giving me. "Well, sorry to barge in like this, but i'm gonna have to borrow Ikuto here for a little while." he stated. My gaze wandered over to Ikuto who was still looking at me. I felt a blush work its way onto my cheeks and I shot my gaze away to something less... stimulating.

"Sure, take him. All he does is hog the couch and eat all our food anyway." Utau stated with a wide grin towards her brother. He shot her a glare, but it was only halfhearted. Kukai gave his thanks and dragged Ikuto out of the dorm by his wrist, not giving him time to say good bye. I looked after him for a moment, then looked down at my toes as if they were the most interesting things on the planet.


	10. Chapter 10

Standard disclaimer and all that jazz. I don't own Shugo Chara and sadly I never will. But enjoy the story! :3

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><p>After the boys left the apartment was silent. My head however was a very different matter. The scene that had just played out in the bedroom played over and over relentlessly in my head. Just thinking about it brought a blush to my cheeks.<p>

"So…" Utau appeared at my side and I jumped, snapping back to reality. "What happened in there? I walked in and you two were like shrapnel. Very graceful landing by the way; ten points on that one."

I felt myself blush even harder, which I hadn't thought possible. My cheeks probably matched my hair. "Nothing." I replied quickly, but to be perfectly honest, I probably wouldn't have believed me either.

"Nothing my ass," Utau said. "Now spill." She finished, a huge grin on her face. I sighed, giving in to the perky blonde. I strolled over to the couch and plopped down, Utau hot on my heels.

"Tell me!" she shouted, plopping down in the armchair next to me.

"Fine." I started. "So, we were going to pain my room, but we ended up getting into a bit of a paint war."

"Well that's obvious." Utau said, gesturing to the now dried pain coating my body.

"_Anyway_, so I went to trip him and he kind of… landed right on top of me." Utau let out a very girly squeal.

"How cute!" she squeaked out, bouncing in her chair.

"Umm… that's not all…" I trailed off, blushing deeply. Utau's eyes went wide, and a devilishly curious smile crossed her lips. "Oh my god, tell me now, I'm dying here!"

"Okay! Jeez…" I let my eyes wander around the room briefly, wondering how to say this. For a writer I wasn't the best at explaining things.

"Spill!" she shouted and I snapped.

"Okay we kissed alright!" Even I was shocked by my just blurting it out like that. By this time Rima had joined us and both her and Utau had their mouths hanging wide open. I stared down at my feet, wiggling my toes in the soft fabric of the rug. When I heard a collective girly scream I glanced up and was immediately tackled by Utau.

"Can't… breath… " I choked out as she squeezed me tightly.

"Sorry." She said, relinquishing me. "I'm just so happy for you!"

"Okay enough with the squeaking. I'm gonna go deaf." I said, uncovering my ringing ears. "And… thanks I guess."

"So are you two together now?" I shrugged and got up heading for the kitchen.

"I don't know." I said while I rummaged through the fridge searching for something to eat. "We were interrupted before we had the chance to figure that out." I said pointedly at Utau. She blushed and mumbled she was sorry. "Then he was dragged from the apartment before anything could be said."

"Yeah, Kukai can be a little oblivious sometimes." Utau said, laughing a little.

"How do you know Kukai anyway?" I asked the blonde girl.

"Oh, he's my boyfriend." I blinked, surprised.

"Oh… I didn't even know you had one."

"Yeah, going on two years now."

"Oh, cool." I said.

"Now, back to you and my brother. You two need to talk."

"Well no shit Sherlock but – whoa! Wait, where are we going?" Utau grabbed my wrist and was dragging me from the apartment.

"To find my idiot brother of course." She replied as if it should have been the most obvious thing in the world.

"Umm, Utau as fun as that sounds, I'd like to get this paint off of me first."

She paused in her tracks and glanced back at me. She let go of my hand. "Oops, yeah, that would probably be a good idea." I gave her one of my signature 'No duh' looks and strolled back into the apartment and towards the bathroom.

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><p>It took me a good two hours to get all of the paint off. By the time I was done the water was cold and my skin felt raw. After my shower I cleaned up the painting supplies in my room then got dressed in a pair of black and white striped knee high socks, a fluffy black mini skirt, a pink tank top with black lace around the edges, and to top it all off a pair of black 'x' clips to hold my hair back.<p>

When I emerged from my room I was immediately back in Utau's clutches. I barely had time to put on my shoes before she pulled me out of the apartment.

"Jeez Utau, could you slow down a bit please?" I begged as she dragged me down the halls and out of the dorm. She slowed down when we got outside. She let go of my hand and we walked side by side down the path. We were about to turn the corner around a building when Utau grabbed my wrist and yanked me back around the corner.

"What's up?" I questioned the blonde girl. Utau held a finger up to her lips and pointed around the building. I peered around and saw none other than Ikuto and Kukai talking. Utau held her thumbs up and shot me a huge grin. I watched as Kukai let, patting Ikuto on the arm then strolling off.

I took a deep breath and was about to head over and talk to him when a girl with long brown hair ran up and jumped into Ikuto's arms, planting a sloppy kiss right on his lips. I quickly ducked back behind the building, not wanting to see anymore. I felt like I was going to be sick.

"What's wrong?" Utau questioned, a look of concern in her violet eyes. She glanced around the corner, no doubt seeing an extension of what I'd just witnessed. "That jerk!" she muttered, then looked to me with pity. "Amu I-"

"It's fine." I said, my voice cold as ice. I gave her a small smile in apology then began my trek back to the dorms.

My chest felt like it was going to collapse in on itself. My eyes stung with tears I refused to let fall. I shouldn't have felt so betrayed, but I did. I hadn't known him for all that long, and it had been me who initiated our kiss after all. But somehow, none of that mattered. I still felt _hurt_.

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><p><strong>I know it's been so long since I updated this story and I'm <em>extremely <em>sorry about that. I know it's not much of an excuse but I've had the absolute worst case of writers block and quite literally couldn't think of a single thing to write. But, after all this time, here it is! Finally chapter 10! I hope you like it! :3**


	11. Chapter 11

(Regular POV)

Amu woke up feeling worse than she had the day before. Her head felt like a drum was beating inside her skull and her heart felt like it had been ripped from her chest, thrown on the ground, and trampled on repeatedly.

She moved cautiously from her bed to her closet, her muscles aching with every step. She didn't want to admit it, but after she'd come back to the dorm yesterday she'd locked herself in her room and cried her eyes out. Utau and Rima tried several times to coax her out, or at least get her to let them in so they could comfort her, but Amu simply wouldn't budge.

Amu got dressed in a simple black and red striped tank top and a pair of jeans. She knew she couldn't stay locked up in her room forever, and missing class wouldn't be like her at all. She had considered skipping math class in order to avoid seeing Ikuto, but decided against it, opting rather to simply ignore the blue haired menace instead. She figured as long as she didn't have to talk to him, everything would be fine, or at the very least she wouldn't burst into tears in front of everyone.

She opened her bedroom door, about to go make herself some breakfast, then froze, eyes going wide like saucers. Sitting on her couch, flipping through TV channels was the very person Amu had wanted to avoid.

Ikuto, having heard a door open, looked up at the frozen Amu. He gave her a soft smile, and was about to speak when the pinkette turned tail and ran back into her room, slamming the door shut behind her loud enough to wake the dead – or at least the rest of the apartment.

Utau emerged from her room, her blonde hair in knots. She'd been wondering what the loud noise had been about, but when she saw Ikuto lying on the couch, staring blankly at Amu's door, it all became clear.

Ikuto glanced back at his sister then back at Amu's door. "Did I do something wrong?" he asked, confused by the way Amu had reacted to seeing him. Utau walked up behind him and slapped him on the back of the head. "Ouch! What was that for?!"

"You know what you did you two-timing jerk." Utau said, glaring at her moronic brother, and then going to the kitchen to make some coffee.

"Two-timing? What are you…" Ikuto trailed off, realization dawning.

"She saw you with that slut Saaya, there's no point in acting all innocent." Utau snapped at him.

Ikuto's eyes narrowed at his sister's accusation. "You don't even know what happened." He said angrily.

"Okay then, please, enlighten me." Utau said, sitting down across from the blue haired boy as he explained the events of yesterday.

. . .

(Amu's POV)

Despite my previous conviction, I ended up staying in my room for most of the day. I hated myself for acting this way. I'd always laughed at the heartbroken girls on TV or in books for closing themselves off and wallowing in self pity, but now I could sort of understand how they felt.

Utau and Rima tried to get me to come out several times throughout the day, even that bastard Ikuto tried a few times, but I simply tuned them all out and hid under my new comforter like the lovesick teenager and I hated myself for being.

After a while I head Utau and Rima return. I was planning on staying in my room like before, but when the smell of fresh curry hit me, I simply couldn't resist. I peeked my head out the door, making sure Ikuto wasn't lurking around somewhere, then tiptoed into the living room and towards the kitchen.

"Good to see you finally decided to show your face, Amu." The voice startled me and I wound up tripping over the rug. I fell flat on my rear, grunting at the impact. I glanced up from my spot on the floor to see Utau and Rima standing above me, giggling.

"It's not funny…" I mumbled, pouting. I know I was acting like a baby, but I just couldn't seem to help myself. And besides, everyone deserves to act childish once in a while.

Utau helped me up off the ground and I dusted myself off. "We figured the smell of food might coax you out of hiding." Utau said, holding up a bowl of what looked to be leftovers. Despite my attempts to resist, the fact that I hadn't eaten a thing all day severely diminished my resolve. I was practically drooling over the leftover curry in Utau's hand.

"So is… is that for me?" I questioned, pointing at the delectable looking dish. Utau nodded, but just as I was reaching for it, she yanked it out of my reach, a smirk that reminded me eerily of her brother plastered across her face.

"On one condition." She told me. The look she held in those violet eyes was truly terrifying to behold. I could only wonder at what kind of horrible thing she was planning on making me do. 'You have to dance for your supper.' I remember hearing that somewhere. But to be completely honest, I wasn't that great of a dancer.

"What is it?" I asked the scary blonde girl before me, a list of things she could be planning on making me do running through my head.

"You have to go talk to my brother." I stared blankly at her, completely god smacked by her request. Nope. That was _definitely _not what I had been expecting. Not. At. All.

* * *

><p><strong>Yay! Chapter 11! Anyway, I know this chapter is kinda short, but I wanted to put all the big, important stuff in the next chapter. And please don't be mad at me 'cause I didn't put Ikuto's explanation into this chapter, because it's going to be in the next one, so don't worry about that. So yeah, enjoy! :3<strong>


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